While Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930) currently dominates the thriving smartphone commodity display market, a number of Asian rivals are aiming to unseat the South Korean giant. Among them is Japan's Sharp Corp. (TYO:6753).

Sharp announced this week that it would be mass-producing a monstrous 443 ppi (pixels-per-inch) 1920x1080 pixel smartphone screen. The 5-inch screen could appear in devices as early as the holiday season, but will likely show up in greater quantities next year. The new display features a brand new pixel technology dubbed CG-Silicon, which Sharp promises brings smartphone displays in line with their full-size counterparts. Sharp's display likely makes use of the company's new "Igzo" power efficient thin-display tech, as well.

The release marks the latest round in a game of brinksmanship by Japan and South Korea's top display makers. Early this year South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. (KSC:066570) announced production of a similar 5-inch 440 ppi unit, which will likely launch in a similar window. LG calls its display technology "Retina" displays.

Sharp is thinking small with its latest 5-inch 1080 display. [Image Source: IntoMobile]

A third player is Japan's Toshiba Corp. (TYO:6502), which recently demoed a 498 ppi 6-inch display. Toshiba's display could be the most impressive of the bunch -- unfortunately it's not yet quite ready for the market.

This display might not be particularly useful for mobile phones, but for the future? Head mounted displays such as the Oculus Rift (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/ocu... would most certainly appreciate as high of a DPI as you can achieve, and in that case 440 DPI isn't even enough. Revolutions in display technologies to make a "retina display" on something like the Rift would be in the thousands of DPI (if one inch away, then 3438 DPI according to the formula here: http://pilky.me/view/6)

You're exactly right. From where we are now there are diminishing returns with this kind of DPI on smartphones and tablets, but higher DPI will certainly be useful for head mounted displays that are even closer to your eyes.